Catching Up On Yesterday

May 30, 1986|By Gray

When it comes down to it, there is one thing that Tuesday's referendum to fix the roads is all about: managing growth.

The ballot doesn't say anything about managing growth, of course. It simply will ask voters in Orange, Seminole and Osceola counties whether they approve or disapprove a regional transportation plan. The ballot will list the roads that would be approved in each of the three counties.

That's where managing growth comes in. In fact, there are two ways managing growth comes in.

In counties such as Orange and Seminole, much of the effort to manage growth will be in catching up on yesterday. Dozens of roads in those two counties carry far more cars than they were designed for.

For example, more than 52,000 cars a day use Orange Blossom Trail from Interstate 4 to Holden Avenue, though the road was built to handle 27,100 cars a day. More than 49,000 cars a day travel on State Road 436 between Red Bug Lake Road and the Orange County line, though that stretch also was built for 27,100 cars.

Those numbers show that elected officials in Orange and Seminole counties welcomed growth during the 1970s but then failed to raise taxes to provide the services to accommodate it. Had they provided those services, the roads wouldn't be such a mess now.

The referendum is a way to provide those services. It requires an increase in gas and property taxes, but those taxes are making up only for what wasn't done before. It was either then or now.

In Osceola County, things are a little different. Some terrible road problems exist there, such as U.S. Highway 192, but much of Osceola's opportunity will be to use new roads to plan better for growth -- something Orange and Seminole don't have the luxury of doing a lot of. They're already overrun with traffic problems because of past growth.

Indeed, the real significance of Tuesday's referendum is that it recognizes growth cannot be managed properly unless the road network is adequate. It used to be that only services such as sewer and water were treated that way.

Growth would come to a halt if the sewer connections were not available or if the water supply couldn't take one more hookup. But when it came to roads, heck, politicians figured they could always squeeze in one more car. And they did; that's why driving certain roads has become such a headache.

Now there's a chance to make up for that. If voters approve Tuesday's referendum, about 50 roads will be improved or built.

That wouldn't take care of everything that needs to be done in the next 15 or 20 years, but it would go a long way toward having services go hand in hand with growth.